An Aruba networks document http://www.arubanetworks.com/assets/wp/WP_WiFiFirst.pdf also gives me pause, “Because it is a duty-cycle based solution, an LTE-U base station effectively takes control over its channel by force under control of a licensed operator, leaving it up to Wi-Fi to sense when the duty cycle is off.”

The IEEE may have some interesting material on the topic, but I will have to see what it is possible to get without a lot in the way of fees. Does anybody have interesting technical references on the topic?

I too am very concerned about LTE-U. Part of this is based on my experience with carriers, and partly from reading the documentation, both pro and con on the subject.

First, I have seen what telco's can do to monopolize a market, and despite their reports, I am skeptical of their performance predictions. It is well known that they have been losing $ to Wi-Fi, and I think they will do just about anything to get those dollars back.

On the pro side for LTE-U, I think it has great potential, but only if it does not interfere with Wi-Fi. ,

Just about any manufacturer can generate test cases that show off their own technology, but ignore reality. Several of the test scenarios presented by LTE-U advocates seem very narrow and artificial. I very well understand the concept of controlled experiments, but the number of test cases is impossibly low.

Even if the initial installations work well, I can imagine a day where LTE-U (as currently planned) obliterates the Wi-Fi - at least in some environments.

The biggest concern by the WLAN industry is the lack of a decent "listen-before-talk" mechanism. I agree with this completely. LTE-U needs to have something better, including stricter energy detect levels - which they will be loathe to accept.

One might even advocate restricting their channel choices - say every other channel ! (hah)

CWNP has a webinar coming up on the 20th of this month, that among other things, will be talking about LTE-U's impact on Wi-Fi performance. It should be interesting..

At first blush, it would seem like the new European RED (Radio Equipment Directive) standards, if applied to LTE-U would fix many of the potential problems with LTE-U.

These new requirements, which go into effect June 2017, specifies transmitter AND receiver (listen before talk - Energy Detect) requirements. The Regulatory Domains have never specified some of these parameters before.

Granted the RED does not directly affect US radios, but for once it seems like the Europeans might have done something right.

US manufacturers selling into Europe are already working on this, and have been for some time.